Japanse SDF officials mum over reported cyber-attack

Japanese Defense Ministry and Self-Defence Force (SDF) was targeted in September by a sophisticated cyber-attack, according to sources cited by The Japan Times.

Defence officials were not making any public comment confirming the attack, with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda refusing to comment on the situation during a 8 November news conference. However, the news organisation cited a senior SDF official who called the alleged attack “a very serious situation.”

Other sources said the attack struck the Japanese Defense Information Infrastructure, which connects SDF facilities, and gave unauthorised access to computers in the National Defence Academy and the National Defence Medical College. This allowed the hackers to also enter the primary SDF computer system, The Japan Times wrote.

No group or nation-state was named or has taken credit for the attack.

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